


Hiding the Ring

by Kayleegee



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 04, post 4x09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5447612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayleegee/pseuds/Kayleegee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He never thought hiding an engagement ring would be as hard as keeping a secret identity, but here he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hiding the Ring

The ring sits in the bowl of glass stones for two days. It seems like as good as hiding place as any. Oliver decides that hiding the ring in plain sight is smart. As crazy perceptive as Felicity is, Oliver is sure she has no idea about the ring or his plans to propose. 

That was going to be half the fun, watching her eyes light up in surprise. He’s always been great at surprising Felicity, but the past six months have been happy surprises, like trips to Bali and Positano, not working with Malcolm to dismantle the League of Assassins type surprises. Oliver imagines Felicity’s wide smile as he would sink onto one knee, asking her to spend the rest of her life with him. He plays the scene over and over in his mind. He just has to find the right time.

The second day the ring sits in the bowl of glass stones, Oliver is crouched looking through one of the boxes left in the living room. It’s then the setting sun hits the bowl, and the clear diamond reflects a prism of color that catches Oliver’s eye. He immediately looks at Felicity, sitting on a nearby couch absorbed in her tablet, not paying attention to anything else. 

Oliver smoothly stands up, the wayward whisk he was looking for in his hand. He pulls his cell phone from his pocket, and slips it next to the glass bowl on the corner table, and takes a second to dive his hands into the bowl and scoop the ring back into his pocket. If Felicity sees that beautiful kaleidoscope of colors peeking through that bowl, she’ll investigate, Oliver is sure of that. He needs a better hiding place.

Oliver moves the ring to the kitchen. He sticks it in the back of a drawer of cooking utensils, the whisk on top of it, feeling confident about this new hiding spot.

That confidence quickly dies a week later when he walks into the kitchen to find Felicity opening the drawer saying, “I know you’re in there.”

“What do you know is in there?” Oliver immediately asks, panic hitting him.

“The corkscrew,” Felicity replies, a bit of bite in her voice, telling Oliver it’s been a day.

Oliver relaxes a bit, scoots behind Felicity and kisses her shoulder blade before opening the drawer to their right, where the corkscrew actually is. 

“Oh!” Felicity lets out in glee, grabbing the corkscrew and turning to kiss Oliver. “You’re awesome. At some point, I will figure out my way around this kitchen.” 

“God, I hope not.” Oliver laughs and Felicity glares at him as she grabs a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Coming?” She asks Oliver, heading for the balcony.

“Yep, just have to put something away. I’ll be out in a minute,” he says and she nods.

Oliver pretends to look busy until he hears the click of the balcony door. He dives into the kitchen drawer and fishes out the ring. He never thought hiding an engagement ring would be as hard as keeping a secret identity, but here he is. 

After the kitchen drawer, Oliver hides the ring in the linen closet for a few days and nearly forgets it’s nestled between two towels as he stands in the hallway one morning, wet and naked, savagely opening the closet looking for a dry towel because Felicity has used his towel. Again. He rips a towel out, and the ring comes shooting out at him. His reflexes kick in and he catches it, and without thinking, looks around for witnesses, although he’s alone. 

The ring then spends a week or so in one of Oliver’s old suit jackets in the back of the closet, but after deciding to run for mayor, Oliver quickly moves the ring after Felicity suggests getting his suits dry cleaned. 

Oliver moves the ring to the new Arrowcave, (which he will never, ever, even under pain of torture admit to calling it that) hoping that it will be safe in a totally secure location. 

For nearly a month (a new record) the ring hangs out behind Oliver’s mannequin holding the Green Arrow suit which only Oliver can access. It’s perfect until he comes into the Arrowcave a few days after the Vandal Savage incident to find Cisco pulling wires out underneath the cases of suits, a sucker in his mouth. Thea’s case is open, even though Thea is nowhere to be seen. 

“Cisco,” Oliver says by way of what the hell are you doing here?

Cisco looks up and grins, “Hey, Oliver. How’s it going?” He continues to work like there’s no explanation needed for him being here. 

“Cisco, whatcha doing?” Oliver asks as lightly as he can muster. 

“Oh, well, I had some free time, and I thought I’d help you guys out with the copper wiring situation. I mean, it’s a travesty, honestly.” 

Oliver narrows his eyes a bit, “Felicity didn’t seem to think so.” 

“And Felicity isn’t an engineer,” Cisco snorts, but immediately backtracks when Oliver’s nostrils flare a little. “And by she isn’t an engineer, I mean she’s a genius. I’m almost done.” 

“How almost?” 

Cisco looks like he’s weighing answers in relation to Oliver’s possible reaction. “Not long,” he says faintly, telling Oliver everything he needs to know. 

Oliver sighs, “Well, if you need anything I’ll be working on arrowheads.” 

“Cool man,” Cisco pops his sucker back in his mouth and starts to turn from Oliver back to the pile of wires. “Nice ring by the way,” Cisco throws back over his shoulder, but stops dead at the look on Oliver’s face, which Felicity would probably call his murdery face. Cisco finds his voice again, “Which I didn’t see. I saw nothing.”

Oliver doesn’t say anything, only clearing his throat threateningly, and walking away. He doesn’t trust himself to engage further. The ring doesn’t stay in the lair much longer after Felicity confirms that Cisco does, in fact, have an override to the bio metrics on the cases. 

Oliver considers putting it in the desk drawer of his desk in his campaign office, and it actually sits in there for 10 minutes before he talks himself out of that hiding spot. Thea has been blissfully silent on the subject, but he doesn’t want to give her an opening to ask if she sees it again. 

That night Oliver hastily hides the ring in a wayward Christmas decorations box, the threat of Felicity arriving home with Donna in tow looming. They already have the Christmas tree up, trimmed and everything, so no one will be looking through it. 

Now the ring sits heavy in Oliver’s pocket. Every few minutes he dives his hand into his pocket, skimming his fingers over the cool metal. It should be on her hand right now. 

He wishes he had the ring when Darhk had left them alone. When Felicity had told him that their relationship was worth fighting for, marriage was worth fighting for, even in the darkest times. When Felicity told him she’d say yes. That was the real proposal. Leave it to Felicity, irrepressible and optimistic as always.

Oliver’s trying to channel that optimism right now. He’s felt the comfort of her hand in his when he’s been lying on the med table, shot, stabbed, or poisoned. He hopes she can feel the comfort of his hand now, gently stroking the back of hers, mindful of the iv. He hopes she can wade out of the dark waters she’s in and find her way back to him, when he can slip the ring, her ring, back onto her hand where it belongs.


End file.
